Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an operating apparatus for an emergency release cable, and more particularly, to an operating apparatus for an emergency release cable, which enables a user to manually switch an automatic transmission from the parking position to the neutral position, using the emergency release cable.
Description of the Related Art
Vehicles which are recently developed or mass-produced employ vehicle electronic control technology called ‘drive by wire’, in order to perform the optimized control for an operation situation after a driver's intention is inputted from various controllers.
Among the electronic control technologies, electronic shift control technology called ‘shift by wire’, which is mainly applied to automatic transmissions for luxury vehicles, has an electrical connection structure between an electronic shift lever and a transmission control unit (TCU), instead of a mechanical connection structure such as a cable or link which is positioned between a mechanical shift lever and a transmission.
The electronic shift control technology controls an actuator according to various algorithms of a controller, and performs various shifting control functions such as gear shifting and manual mode shifting.
The electronic shift control technology has various advantages in that the technology can offer simple and convenient operability to a driver and secure the flexibility of a packaging space, while being effectively used for anti-theft technologies in connection with an electronic key.
Vehicles to which the electronic shift control technology is applied must have a fail-safe function for an emergency such as a trouble of an electronic shift lever or electronic TCU or a communication fail between electronic units.
In connection with the control technology with a fail-safe function, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0062645 discloses a technology which determines whether a communication fail occurred between an electronic shift lever and a TCU, and automatically shifts an electronic shift lever to the neutral position during an emergency such as a communication fail.
The technology disclosed in this patent document cannot be applied when a fail occurs in the TCU itself.
Korean Patent No. 10-1104043 discloses a technology which pulls an override cable using an actuator installed at an electronic shift lever and forces a parking sprag to be separated from a parking gear, when a fail occurs in a TCU or electronic shift lever, thereby performing a fail-safe function for a TCU fail.
In the technology disclosed in this patent document, the actuator installed at the electronic shift lever is electrically connected to the electronic shift lever and electrically operated. Thus, the actuator cannot be applied when a fail occurs in the electronic shift lever itself.
In order to solve the problem of the electronic fail-safe structure, a variety of technologies have been developed, which are manually operated only by a driver or passenger's intention, switches a transmission to the neutral position from the parking position by pulling a cable connected to the transmission using a mechanical actuator, and maintains the switched state. Hereafter, the cable is referred to as an emergency release cable.
An operating apparatus for the emergency release cable using the mechanical actuator has a configuration in which the emergency release cable connected to a lever is pulled when a user operates the lever and the lever is fixed through a hook structure to maintain the state of the emergency release cable.
In the case of the configuration that fixes the lever through the hook structure, the fixing structure between the hook and the hook counterpart may be worn down or damaged as the hook and the hook counterpart are relatively coupled and released. Then, the fixing structure may loosen or cannot fix the hook and the hook counter park. In this case, a serious problem is likely to occur.
Furthermore, in the case of the mechanical actuator having a structure that is fixed through the hook structure, a user must manually return a lever to restart the vehicle, when the engine and the transmission are restarted after a fail of electronic equipment is solved, which may make the user experience inconvenience.